Monday, December 17, 2012

I
recently attended the celebration for four of our students that won national
awards from the TRIO Quest program.Lisa
Napier, Kayla Cormier, Melissa Majors, and Wade Browne were honored for their
prose and poetry submissions.Each
submission was accompanied by a picture by the students.Respectively they received an honorable
mention, a bronze medal, and two gold medals.Keep in mind this is a national competition meaning submissions came in
from all across the U.S.I had the
opportunity to read each of the submissions and they were excellent.The students wrote about things they knew,
things they loved and cared about, things about which they were passionately
interested.My gauge of good writing is
if I can personally connect and I surely did so with these four works.

Congratulations
are also in order for our TRIO program here at the college.TRIO is a Federal grant funded project for student
support services.Our program is directed by Andrea Boddie with
the very effective staff of Shannon Freeman, Carol Bazenet, Mary Malone, and
Jean Colello.Not only did these folks
have the joy of seeing the students succeed, our program was acknowledged as
the Top TRIO Quest program for 2012 and Shannon received the TRIO Quest coach
award.

The
dictionary defines genius as exceptional intellectual or creative power.These four students exhibited their genius
for writing.Mark Twain said, “Thousands
of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others. “
How sad it would have been if these students had never discovered their power
to use the written word to touch other lives.They would have been the poorer and so would we.

But
they did discover their genius.They
came to Volunteer State and they learned and explored.They were encouraged by faculty and staff and
by the folks in the TRIO center and we are all the richer for it.Isn’t that what we are all about – helping
students discover their genius?Whether
it is writing or science, art or business, math or health care, or any of
multiple other disciplines, we give students the chance to find the place where
they can succeed and where they can shine – where they can be a genius.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Jim Hiett has to pause when considering the many hats he has
worn in higher education over the years. His retirement this semester brings to
a close more than 30 years of service at Vol State.

“I started teaching in the 1960s,” Hiett said. “I was a
charter faculty member at a community college in Kentucky. I taught at a couple
of other community colleges. I didn’t think I would do more teaching, but Vol
State pulled me in. I didn’t think I would be here for more than a year or
two.”

Hiett began work as an adjunct instructor in psychology in
1980. Over the years he has also served as a counselor, chair of a division and
assistant vice president of Academic Affairs since the 1990s. Each new position
has brought new challenges.

“I think the fact that we reorganized several times since I
have been here has helped my longevity. I was never bored,” he said. “In this
job I have a lot of contact with students. I enjoy working with students. I’m
really more interested in working on the academic side of the struggle.”

As assistant VP Hiett works with many students who are
struggling academically, helping them to get back on track, if possible.

“Students here don’t take anything for granted. Most of our
students have to sacrifice to be here. That’s something that people at private
schools, and even big universities, might not understand.”

When asked about co-workers who have influenced him, or
stood out in his memory, the list is long, but there is one name at the top.

“I think of Dr. Ramer first. He was a model of what a
community college president should be and such an ethical and generous person.”

Jim is retiring at the same time as his wife, Sharon, who
works at Belmont University. They have plenty of adventures planned. Tops on
the retirement agenda is more time with family, and especially grandkids.
However, Jim and Sharon are passionate birders, meaning they take bird watching
quite seriously. They have traveled extensively over the years to observe
different wild birds in their habitats.

“My wife is a writer and I pretend to be a writer
sometimes,” he said. “We’re working on a book about our birding adventures,
like how we nearly died in the woods birding.”

Birders keep close track of how many different species they have
observed over the years.

“We’re closing in on 600 birds in North America, that’s out
of more than 900. We might try and see all of the birds you can see in North
America.”

The loss of another long-time employee is tough for the
college. Hiett has been an important resource when it comes to institutional
memory. His sense of humor will also be sorely missed.

“This is a good place to work,” he said. “I always say that
this is a good clean job and someone has to do it.”

Monday, December 10, 2012

Gallatin Daycare recently partnered with students from Penny
Duncan’s Early Childhood Education 2040 Family Dynamics class to provide a parent education meeting.

The students met with Gallatin Daycare
director, Linda Boyles, to discuss the needs of the families at the childcare.
A “needs assessment questionnaire” was created by the students to give to the
parents to determine the family’s needs and interests. As a result, the
students planned an informational meeting providing local resources in the area
and contacted a speaker; P.J. Davis from Shalom Zone. The students donated food
and toys themselves and made baskets to give away as door prizes. There were 15
parents who attended and each went home with a basket or gift. Some of the
local resources presented included the Gallatin Public Library, Dolly Parton’s
Imagination Free Books, Gallatin’s Regional Intervention Program, Last Minute
Toy Store, Shalom Zone, Gallatin Care’s and Hendersonville’s Samaritan Center.

First responders need to keep their skills sharp and
learn the latest techniques. Continuing Education is one way to keep current. A
recent class run by the EMS Program and the Health Sciences Center of Emphasis
went way beyond the usual weekend course. The Paramedic-Critical Care course is
over 120 hours of intensive didactic, lab, and clinical experiences. The course
is designed for experienced paramedics who will be providing critical care
transports between medical facilities. The paramedics train to care for
patients with extensive medical issues that require ventilator support, IV
admixtures, chest tubes, and central IV monitoring.

The latest group of Paramedic-Critical Care students
had a 100% pass rate, pretty amazing when you consider the rigorous nature of the
course. This was the second successful course in two years (last year’s pass
rate was 83%). Art Bratcher and the faculty provided outstanding instruction in
conjunction with the administration and staff at Centennial Heart and Vascular
Center. Dr. Bob Myers served as course Medical Director, clinical instructor,
and guest lecturer. Congratulations to EMS Education faculty David Linn,
Brandie Park, and Kevin Alspaugh for obtaining their critical care
certification.

December 3 was the 20th
anniversary of the text message.The
first text message was “Merry Christmas.”That brought to mind some other first messages.The first experimental telegraph
line between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore was demonstrated on May 24, 1844
and commenced with the transmission of Morse's first message, "What hath
God wrought!"On August 16,
1858 the first message sent via Morse code across the Trans-Atlantic cable was,
"Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace and good will toward
men.""Mr. Watson. Come Here. I
need you," was the first telephone transmission by Alexander Graham Bell
on March 10, 1876.One of the earliest
television broadcasts occurred January 13, 1928,
broadcasting from the General Electric factory in Schenectady, NY, and
consisted of an image of a Felix the Cat doll, rotating on a turntable.

On a side note “OMG” is
not an invention of the twitter-verse.The first recorded instance of the abbreviation has been found in a 1917
letter from one Lord Fisher to Winston Churchill.

Communication has
certainly come a long way.One recent
evening I marveled at the fact that I was sitting in my living room with iPad
in hand, wirelessly connected to the Internet to view pictures of the Martian
landscape taken by the recently landed Curiosity.In the December 4th issue of the
Chronicle of Higher Education blog there is a report of a class at George Mason
University where the entire classroom discussion took place via Twitter.

The question is, “While
speed and volume have improved, has the quality of communication
improved?”I think not.If we are to believe what experts tell us -
that a large percentage of communication goes beyond just the transmission of words
- then all these devices are leaving out a large portion of what is intended to
be conveyed.

I’ve been characterized as
being overly fond of face to face meetings and I admit this is a preferable
means of communication.I do realize,
though, that e-mail, texting, and Twitter and other forms of electronic
communication are here to stay.So I
have an obligation to use them effectively and efficiently.

In our recent sessions
exploring what we can do to help students succeed, one of words that was
prominent was “communication.”So let’s
all ask ourselves, “What can I do to communicate more effectively with students?With co-workers?With the community around us?-Dr. Jerry Faulkner

Friday, December 7, 2012

HOLIDAY DOOR CONTEST

SPECIAL EDITION!

Vol State's First Lady, Wanda Faulkner along with Foundation Trustees Richard Rowlett and Eric Jackson determined a winner among offices across campus for the Employee Relations Committee Holiday Door Contest. Competition was stiff and attempts at bribing were evident once again this year. Many offices pulled out all the stops to put their best foot forward. The results were announced by Len Assante at a special caroling event in the Great Hall of the Ramer Administration Building with refreshments. The photographer did not vote. The judges really got into the spirit of the holidays, too!

﻿

Grand Category (Red - Door, Plus Interior)

First Place "Wish Factory", The Foundation Office

Second Place "Camp Records", Records and Registration

Green Category (Door Plus)

First Place, Information Technology

Second Place, Business Office

Blue Category (Door Only)

First Place, Math & Science Office

Second Place, Human Resources

Our thanks goes out to everyone who participated! Additional entries are featured below:

Advising

Office of Student Life and Diversity

Continuing Education

EMT / Paramedic

Plant Ops

Public Relations

Division of Humanities

Happy Holidays from the Employee Relations Committee!!!

An unusual event is occurring on Wednesday of next week. At twelve minutes past noon (or midnight) it will be 12:12 12/12/12. This sort of numeration will not occur again until one minute after one o’clock on January 1, 2101 (01:01 01/01/01) and likely not in any of our lifetimes. So this is a unique moment in our lifetime.

Some have predicted that the world will end next Wednesday. I know some students wouldn’t mind not taking another final exam. A British citizen using the alter-ego of Andronicos (http://www.andronicos.net/ ) has established an educational web site where he proposes solutions to all the world’s problems by 12/12/12. http://www.12-12-12.org/main.htm

In reality every day is filled with unique moments for when the moment is past it will never come again and can never be reclaimed in this lifetime. So what will we do with the unique moments in our lives?

Vol State Discussion Board

The Vol State Gallatin Campus

The Vol State Insider is produced by the Office of Public Relations. It's a newsletter blog designed primarily for faculty and staff, although everyone is welcome to view and comment. You can contact us at pr@volstate.edu